WHILE Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich steadfastly refused one of Wigan’s famous pies – worried that it had been poisoned – the Glazers happily dined alone in the club’s boardroom.

At the age of 76, Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has just about seen it all in the madcap world of football.

He believes this season could be his big mate Sir Alex Ferguson’s last hurrah if Manchester United regain the title.

And anyone expecting sparks to fly in the Newcastle United boardroom tomorrow, when Whelan comes face to face with his old sports goods adversary Mike Ashley, is in for a big disappointment.

Whelan revealed: “He’s a ruthless so-and-so, but they used to say I was a right b*****d when I was young. I get on very well with him.”

At least Wigan’s owner can expect a longer conversation than the one which accompanied Abramovich’s one and only visit to the DW Stadium.

In an intriguing and unique insight into Chelsea’s reclusive owner, back in the headlines for his merciless sacking of Champions League-winning manager Roberto Di Matteo, Whelan recalled the day the Russian came calling.

I offered him a Wigan pie but he must have thought it had been poisoned

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan

“It was our first game in the Premier League and he came up by helicopter,” Whelan explained.

“He’d already sent three men up on the Wednesday and another two on the Friday. I was letting him land about 300 yards from the ground and would lay on a car to pick him up.

“But he had his own car sent up from London, one which was bullet-proof. It picked him up and brought him to the stadium.

“Once he arrived, he stood in a corner of the boardroom. He wouldn’t move out of the corner and wouldn’t have anything to eat or drink.

“I offered him a Wigan pie but he must have thought it had been poisoned!

“He wouldn’t even have a glass of water because he had brought his own water with him. Then he went out to watch the match with six bodyguards around him.

“The only words he said to me came after the game, when he asked, ‘How long before I can go?’ I told him he would have to give it 10 or 15 minutes to let the crowd go.

“Then it was off into his bullet-proof car and back to his helicopter. I’ve never seen him when I have gone to Chelsea. He never comes to say hello.

“It’s the same when you go to Fulham. You never see the feller there (Mohamed Al Fayed). It’s strange when you go into a football club and don’t see the chairman.”

It’s a sign of the times, with the expanding number of absent foreign tenants aligned to Premier League clubs.

“It’s a free world and I can understand them wanting to come in because if you can’t make money now, with the new TV deals, you never will,” Whelan said.

“When the latest deal kicks in next season, Premier League clubs will receive £50million basic and that money will keep rising.

“At Chelsea, Abramovich has got money to burn but he’s got no patience. He can’t grumble about the end of last season under Roberto Di Matteo.

“This season had been their best league start in 10 years, but because it looks like Chelsea have been knocked out of the Champions League, bang, the manager is gone.

“That’s not fair in any walk of life, never mind in football.”

It’s not something Whelan’s own manager, the highly regarded Roberto Martinez, has to fear.

“We trust each other, that’s the number one,” he added. “If we have a bad run, he trusts me to support him. If we have a good run, I trust him not to listen to what Liverpool say and run after them.”

Abramovich, he feels, fits the stereotype image many people have of some Russians.

“I don’t think he gives football owners a bad name, but in Western Europe we have an image of Russians,” he said. “They want their own way all the time. They are prepared to chop or axe anything to get their own way.

“I don’t think all Russians are like that, but the image that has been painted is that those who have come into our sport ruthlessly want success. If they don’t get success, they will spit their dummy out.”

The Glazers, controversial owners of Manchester United, are different football animals altogether, insists Whelan.

“They are a very quiet family, very unassuming,” he said. “At Wigan, we always dine after games but they like to eat before the match, so we leave them alone to dine in our boardroom.

“When we go in, they are perfect gentlemen. There is no boasting or flag-flying. They never interfere in football matters and that is why the club is successful.”

It’s a club Whelan could have bought for £11m when Martin Edwards wanted to sell.

“Michael Knighton had agreed to pay it but needed six months to put together the finance.

“I told Martin I would buy it but my wife said it would effect our business, JJB Sports, in places like Liverpool and London. She had a point, so I advised Martin to float the club on the stock market and he got around £28m.